Headaches and Migraines: Did You Know?

Women get headaches 50% more often, for longer periods of time, and more severely than men. In addition, they are two-and-a-half times more likely to suffer from migraine headaches.

Headaches & Migraines can be annoying, painful, and downright debilitating. Thus they can affect all aspects of life, including work, leisure activities, and, most importantly, relationships. Although somewhat common, this pain is not normal. It is your body’s warning sign that something is amiss and needs attention. Contrary to what your doctor might say, peer-reviewed, medical research shows most headaches originate in the neck.

Is Medication the Solution?

Painful headaches often lead people to take common over-the-counter medications to try and get some relief. Unfortunately, the overuse of these medications have raised disturbing questions about the safety of over-the-counter, non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory pain relievers such as Advil, Motrin, Aleve, Naproxen, Ibuprofen and others. Taking these drugs for a 6 month period came with twice the risk of dying from a heart attack, stroke or other heart-related problems. Ulcers and gastrointestinal bleeding are also side effects of their use/overuse. Recent research has also linked Ibuprofen use to an increased risk of breast cancer.

Although not classified as an anti-inflammatory, Acetaminophen or Tylenol use is responsible for 12% of all patients hospitalized with drug overdoses and 40% of patients with acute liver failure; the kidneys are also severely taxed by use/overuse of this drug. All of these commonly used medications may make one feel temporarily better, however, they can clearly have a detrimental impact on long-term health and will most certainly not address the CAUSE of a migraine, just the symptom.

Headache Posture

The Neck is the Source

Regardless of what your doctor, pharmacist, friend or even a Tylenol ad has told you, under most circumstances, a migraine is not normal. It is clearly your body’s way of letting you know you have a problem. Your next step is to figure out what it is. Have your body’s structure and biomechanics assessed by an expert in posture – as that will most likely get to the cause. At the same time, rule out disease, such as a tumor in the neck or head. Both of these potential causes can be addressed simultaneously by ensuring that you get x-rays of your entire spine.

Two common spinal conditions of the neck contribute to headaches, regardless of whether they are tension or migraine headaches. Both have mechanical origins. The first is hypolordosis. Hypolordosis is simply a loss of the normal neck curve in the spine. This often called a “military neck” because it is straight. Necks must be curved from the side. The second is forward head posture (FHP). This occurs when the head does not sit squarely over the shoulders. This puts significant pressure on the muscles, ligaments, discs, and spinal cord.

Many people blame outside influences on their headaches. Examples include stress from work, interpersonal relationships, sports, barometric pressure, fluorescent light, and coffee. Agreed, many life-factors can cause stress. However, if your body is strong and sound, and your posture is within the normal range, the stresses from the world we live in should not cause a migraine or any other pain for that matter. If they do, there is most likely an underlying structural problem.

Neck Correction

Natural and painless correction of these structural problems is our clinical specialty. As a result, a majority of our patients report a decrease in or elimination of headache & migraine pain within days! This can be done without dangerous drugs or surgery following our chiropractic spinal corrective protocol.

A majority of our patients report a decrease or elimination of headaches within just days or a couple of weeks of treatment! Our methodology has more peer-review medical research supporting results than all other physical therapy and “corrective chiropractic” data combined. Remember, our protocol is not a pill with side effects – it is a proven process of regaining health naturally.

Headaches often gets in the way of reaching your health potential. To see if your headaches or migraines might be a result of poor, correctable spinal structure, call for a FREE consult. You can receive this either on the phone or at either of our two Atlanta metro locations: Tucker and Brookhaven. This phone to 770-938-4606 call could result in a potentially life-change.